But what about the immense damage caused by the extraction of the tar sands oil before it makes its way into the pipeline?

Tar sands take 3 barrels of water to process every barrel of oil extracted. Ninety percent of this water becomes so toxic that it must be stored in tailing ponds. Unfortunately these ponds regularly leach pollution into the third largest watershed in the world.

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This project was protested at the White House and all across the country! NObama tabled it UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION, BECAUSE THERE WAS SO MUCH CONTROVERSY AGAINST IT! But, I am sure that, if he wins the election, he would have no doubt approved it because he is a big oil whore! Now, he has to make a decision before the election, and that is a good thing! Thousands said that if NObama let it go through, he would lose their vote! I am a life long Dem, but, Nobama is letting BP back into the Gulf with "voluntary" safety measures (we know how well that worked), and want to let Shell drill in the Arctic, which is a disaster waiting to happen! Keystone XL is a horrible project - it will not generate the jobs they claim it will and environmentally it is terrible! If NObama approves this, he will be letting down tens of thousands of the public (again), caving to the Repuglicans, and he is arrogant enough to think we won't notice! He is a jackass. I am ashamed I ever voted for him! I am going to vote Independent of write in, because the Repug candidates are even worse, but not much!

My brother, Tom Weis, is trekking from Canada/Montana border to Texas on his "Rocket Trike" bring awareness to local towns along the proposed pipeline route. For more info and to read his journal, go to: http://www.RideForRenewables.com. Please also LIKE his facebook page: www.facebook.com/rideforrenewables

This is one of many well made videos about the Tar Sands. I know Andrew Nikiforic personally and he speaks from well documented facts. We are now scaping the bottom of the barrel for oil! Morally, we have no right to do this to the environment. But the environment doesn't matter when it comes to oil and money. The whole Tar Sands is an environmental disaster. If we would have invested those multi-billions of dollars spent on the Tar Sands on alternative energy we would all be better off, including the environment.

After that use the energy monitor to get a general idea about how much electricity you are using on a regular basis, and consult your electric bills. This will give you some idea about what you need as a minimum system for your home.

You will notice power spikes when certain appliances are switched on (water heater, washer, dryer, etc), but youre looking for what the always on KwH is like.

Shop around once you have that information. You will want a system that generates .5 to 1.0 KwH more than what you actually need, and you will also want to address what your nightly power consumption is by having enough stored battery power.

By doing all of the above, I have discovered that I can run my house completely on this 5 Kwh system

We should give all the middle/poor class people solar panels so they can charge electricity back to their local electric companies. Give them electric cars too so that they never have to pay for gas, and make sure those cars have solar panels on them so they are always charging. The financial offset alone would dramatically help our economy.

Of course stupid people would rather you stay dependent on FILTHY energy sources like oil, and nuclear power. Solar power would upset the plans of stupid people to murder the middle/poor classes.

Cheap solar depends on what you buy, and what you are willing to do to use it.

They have private installation companies, and they even have one that's partnered with Lowes.
Businesses/stores get a bulk solar discount which they (hopefully) pass on to you, but they tack on the price of labor.

Doing it yourself saves you that cost, and it's really not that hard, but that does mean you have to do it yourself, and depending on your level of skill that can be worse than the extra cost.

Get these two things:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-TLD100-Thermal-Detector/dp/B001LMTW2S

Find your ac/heat leaks, and seal them up. Then change out all your light bulbs inside/outside your house with LEDs. Preferably 1 watt, and white, but you can usually get better discounts with non-white colors. You can double up in areas that need more light.

If you own solar panels you are producing your own electricity by harnessing the power of the sun. If you sell that electricity back to your local power company you are engaging in a transaction no different from what your local fast food restaurant does. You make the electric cheeseburger with your solar panel stove, they pay you for it, and then the electric company stuffs it in it's fat face and eats it. Payment for services rendered!

Harnessing the power of the sun does not make you a socialist, commie, homosexual, or any other closet bogeyman that stupid people are so afraid of. It makes you an intelligent human being that's able to understand that if you can legally get something for free then why pay for it? If you can make money by legally getting something for free, and then selling it then why not do it? Anything less is stupid.

Put solar panels that create NO WASTE, and produce CLEAN ENERGY on your house. You will NEVER have an electric bill again, and if you produce enough energy you can charge it back to the grid, and GIVE the electric company a bill.

Most states will allow you to make up to $1000 a month or more charging electricity back to your local electric company. That's a $12,000 a year direct income that coupled with savings from not having an electric bill would net you around $15000+ yearly.

We should give all the middle/poor class people solar panels so they can charge electricity back to their local electric companies. Give them electric c

meet our writers

Beth is a freelance writer and editor living in the Rocky Mountain West. So far, Beth has lived in or near three major U.S. mountain ranges, and is passionate about protecting the important ecosystems they represent. Follow Beth on Twitter as @ecosphericblog or check out her blog. less